Ubisoft: time and place for E3 not appropriate, needs to be bigger
There are a lot of people out there who’ve been expressing gripes about E3 this year, how it was lackluster and kinda anticlimactic, and I can’t really say I disagree. E3’s been getting a lot of bad vibes since Activision left (or since last year, even). Ubisoft‘s executive director has his own thoughts on the matter, saying that while it’s important for studios to be there to present their games, he believes that the time and place for the event is “not appropriate,” and that we should have a bigger E3 next time around. More details in the full article.
Although we’ve had a lot of great news from E3, I can’t help but notice that a lot of people have been expressing their gripes that the event was lackluster, and a little anticlimactic. I can’t say I disagree – the event has been getting bad vibes ever since Activision left (or ever since last year, even).
Ubisoft‘s executive director Alain Corre has his own views on the matter, saying that the time and location for E3 really isn’t strategic, probably even suggesting that it’s only the place to be because everyone else is there:
For E3, it’s very important to be there, and to present the games, because even though it’s much, much smaller than it used to be, still the American media are here, all our competitors, so you need be there, to be ready and to share product.
He explains that because the event happens later in the year, it would be too late to announce new products, and so fewer media outlets feel that the event is crucial. The lack of hype because of the downsizing doesn’t help either:
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It’s one milestone in the communication of your products throughout the year, and it’s important because it’s the ramp-up for Christmas, [but] E3 here, mid-July, in the Convention Center in downtown LA – it’s not appropriate I would say.
He goes on to say that the answer is to have E3 earlier in the year, and to make it bigger – though not as big as in 2006 since the event was getting too big and costly. Nevertheless , he does say that “It has to be a reasonable size with some reasonable limits as to noise, attendees or whatever, but with a bigger ambition than the one we have this year.”
To be sure though, that doesn’t mean Ubisoft was unhappy with this year’s E3:
This year we’re happy because the response to our products has been good, people loved it. […] It’s just that it could be even more efficient if it was done in a different way – earlier in the year, and in a bigger way with everybody.
Amen to that.
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